(WORKING)Material Comparisons

It can be daunting to have literally hundreds of colors and materials to choose from.

Stiffest material
- Generally bends less easily than other materials
Hardest material
- Resists deformation by a pointy thing better than most (at least to start with...)
Very poor temperature resistance
- Prints left in a hot car will likely deform
Very poor impact resistance
- PLA Hammer + Nail = Plastic Shrapnel

Very poor creep resistance
- PLA shelf bracket + (insert time) = Shelf on floor
- I use PLA for a ton of things, but when it MUST hold weight, I use PC or PA depending on impact requirement
"+" and "Pro" modifiers vary wildly between manufacturers
- Make no assumptions about the modifiers; test EVERY new material
Moisture
- Increased stringing with more moisture
- Decreased toughness (embrittlement) with extended moisture or ultraviolet light exposure (Some old PLA gets brittle)
  - Most transparent, translucent, and silk filaments seem to be less affected by moisture
Opinions
- Best for aesthetic print quality
- Seems to creep under significant stresses
- Favorite material for prototyping $$$ (prototypes become finished products when they work the first time)
Uses
- Anything that will live inside a home, but will not have large physical stress placed upon it
Exceptions
- Protopasta HTPLA (High Temperature Polylactic Acid)
  - Prints like normal PLA then heat treated at increasing temperatures, and get ~100c heat deflection
- Lay-Filaments Reflect-O-Lay Flexible PLA
  - Prints and physically acts like soft TPU/TPE
  - Feels somewhat "fuzzy" and a lot like rubber
  - Crazy retroreflector effect

Softest material
- Has more in common with rubber than plastic
Best impact resistance
Adequate temperature resistance
- Innate flexibility allows use well above the glass transition temperature
Moisture
- TPU and TPE filaments MUST be dry!
- Moist filament has horrible print quality
- Weaknesses are created in each layer by Steam bubbles
Opinions
- Medium to poor aesthetic print quality
- Printing a flexible material offers a new door of possibilities for home 3D printers
Uses
- Anything that needs to be flexible or survive regular & significant impacts

Requires higher temperature "All Metal" hot end
Gets a bad reputation because
- Possible layer delamination
- Noxious off-gassing
Prefers enclosure/print chamber to be kept around half it's glass transition point (~50c)
Any plastic containing Styrene stinks when printing
My Opinion: Mostly seal the 3d printer into almost any enclosure to keep both Heat and Stink inside
- Thin nylon photography tents might be OK if the room is already REALLY warm but they loose heat quickly
- Thin plastic sheeting works better than nylon but suffers from poor insulation qualities also
- Large cardboard box worked great but didn't like unfolding the flaps to touch printer each time
  - ^{...and the molten plastic being slung around inside a paper box made me a little FIRE nervous if I'm honest!}
- IKEA LACK table with foam-core craft board walls/door made for excellent insulation